Citation Wisdom

There are currently many guides for learning citation styles for both print and electronic resources. Students should use the style guides generally accepted by their departments. You'll need to ask your professor which one he or she prefers. On this page, you will find guides (books and webpages) to citing both print and electronic resources from a variety of venues. The Brandeis Libraries have many books and other resources that explain the citation process.

If you have any difficulties, be sure to consult with a Reference Librarian or stop by the InfoPoint for more help, or contact me via the chat box on this page.

It is important that you are consistent throughout your paper in how the citations are presented and what information they include. Remember, the whole concept of citations is to help your reader identify and retrieve the same material you used!

--Judith Pinnolis, Research and Instruction/Humanities Librarian

What is a citation? A citation...

• describes a book, journal article, website, or other published item
• gives credit to the originator of an idea, thus preventing plagiarism
• enables the reader to retrieve the item you refer to
• includes the author, title, source (publisher and place of publication or URL), and date

Where can I get help in formatting my citations correctly?

There are many guides to help you understand how to format and present your citations in a bibliography or as footnotes or endnotes in a paper or thesis. The library provides online access to the most standard citation guidebook: The Chicago Manual of Style. We also have all the major guides to Psychology, MLA, ASA and other guides. To find those books, see the links below.